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The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT August 28, 2010

| August 28, 2010 9:00 PM

With all the musical chairs in college sports, is it any wonder that most league commissioners are pulling their hair out and wanting to seek legal action against those members that are bailing?

And considering most of the movement is out west, the landscape of the Western Athletic, Big Sky and Pac-10 conferences could continue to change for a long time to come.

WITH THE announcement that Fresno State and Nevada were bailing along with Boise State to join the Mountain West Conference at the start of the 2012 season, there could be a lack of big-time national attention in the WAC when it comes to football.

Those three teams will meet Utah on the way out, with its move to the Pac-10 along with Colorado within the next two years. BYU has been flirting with leaving the Mountain West for the past week, but may opt to remain in the league after weighing its options as an independent.

I can understand the moves for a few reasons, but not enough to believe that the move is going to benefit all the parties involved.

Take a look at the new-look WAC.

You've got Hawaii, New Mexico State, Utah State, San Jose State, Louisiana Tech and Idaho, which will be the conference lineup once the other three teams leave.

IT HAS been rumored that league officials are looking into having the University of Montana join the conference.

Bringing the Griz from the Big Sky will bring some buzz to the WAC, which for the most part has been more about those schools leaving rather than staying in the past two months.

Montana has been one of the top teams in I-AA for the past decade, and could give a few of those teams a competitive game, if not find a way to win more than lose.

Who knows if that will ever happen, but as long as the Grizzlies continue to make the playoffs and get to national title games, fans will wonder just how they'd match up at the next level.

To me, it could be interesting to have Hawaii come to Washington-Grizzly Stadium in late October when the temperatures are approaching the single-digits.

Regardless if they remain in the Big Sky or accept an offer to join the WAC, the Grizzlies won't have any problem filling seats for home football games.

SHOULD TEAMS continue to shuffle conferences, hopefully it's in the best interests of those involved.

A few months after saying that there was no reason to play them, Boise State and Idaho have began talking about playing in football again, opening a window that was once believed closed.

Regardless of where teams end up - there's one thing that will never change.

Old rivalries never end - no matter what conference they play in.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached via telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.